After having similar experiences with the dogs in his life, Neurobiologist Gregory S. Bernswondered the same thing. Fortunately for us, he has access to the tools necessary to get to the bottom of whether or not dogs have the ability for self-control.

Since 2012, Dr. Berns and his team have been focused on advancing the field of neuroimaging in awake, unrestrained dogs. Dogs who participate in their studies are trained to go into MRI machines and sit completely still.

For anyone who has ever had an MRI before, you know how challenging it is to remain perfectly still, so imagine trying to get a dog to do it!

Since the dogs are not supposed to be moving around during the scans, Dr. Berns and his team have adopted a passive approach to creating brain activity. Once in the MRI machine, the dogs are presented with a stimulus, such as a scent, sound, pictures, or hand signals, and the corresponding brain activity is measured.

However, to study self-control, the team needed to find a way for the dogs to perform a behavior without excessive movement. To do this, Dr. Berns and his team used a psychological test designed for children called a Go-NoGo test. Prior to the study, a group of dogs were taught specific commands for Go and NoGo.

For the Go condition, dogs were taught to nose poke a target in response to a whistle. In the NoGo condition, dogs were taught to recognize that arms crossed in an X means no nose poke even if they hear a whistle. As you can imagine this wasn’t an easy task; training a dog to perform this behavior well enough to do it in an MRI machine took between 2-4 months of preparation.

When the dogs were consistently completing the task with 80% accuracy, it was time to see if they did, in fact, have self-control. When the dogs were asked to perform the NoGo task, the MRI captured the area of the brain that inhibited the nose poke behavior.

Through the MRI, Dr. Berns and his team found that impulse control in both humans and dogs is controlled by the prefrontal lobes, but in dogs this area is much smaller relative to brain size. Furthermore, when the dogs were asked to perform the NoGo task, those that completed it successfully saw much more brain activity in this frontal lobe.

What this means is that there is an actual link between the level of self-control a dog has and the behavior they display. In other words, dogs that have more brain activity in their frontal lobes, therefore more self-control, are better able to control their behaviors.

This study gives us great insight into how self-control in dogs takes place, but further research is needed to determine why some dogs have more brain activity than others. Once we know this, we might be able to find a way to improve its functioning through training.

This is important, as biting is a common and serious consequence of a dog’s lack of self-control. If we are able to determine why some dogs lack self-control and bite we might able to prevent its occurrence.

The fire—thought now to be an accident—began while the family was asleep. Quick-acting neighbors, who saw the house burning, called the fire department and used a chair to break through a front window.

They were able to help Margo Feaser, who is an investigator with the sheriff’s office, out of the burning house. Firefighters then broke down the front door and rescued Feaser’s husband.

The kids, a 2-year-old girl and her 4-year-old brother, were in another room—so then Maxx, a retired police dog, showed responders where to find them.

The boy wasn’t breathing, at the time. He and his sister were rushed to the hospital.

“Maxx, the family dog, is credited with assisting firefighters through the heavy smoke to the location of each of the two children,” the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.

Luckily, all four humans are in stable condition, according to the sheriff’s office, while Maxx is being treated for smoke inhalation at a local veterinary clinic, “and is expected to make a full recovery.”

You’re a good girl, Maxx. We hope you and your family get better soon.

The best and worst thing about dogs is that no matter what they do, it’s nearly impossible to stay mad at them. My dog for example got away with SO much more than I could have ever imaged as a kid. I would get in trouble for wearing my shoes on the carpet while my dog got away with running through the house with soaking wet paws. If this sounds all too familiar these next few are bound to be spot on.

When your parents tell you it’s not “socially acceptable” to walk around naked but your dog can lay spread eagle on the floor…

You both know you’re not supposed to play with food. But somehow you end up banned from eating red sauce and they manage to get thirty likes on Instagram.

“It’s water mom. It DRIES.” – every child ever

When you think about it, there’s really not a huge difference between people and pup toys. So what’s all the fuss about?

Who didn’t pee in the living room as a kid? Right? Or never mind…

Dogs can pawtest all they want and they’re just being a dog. When you did the same, it was considered a meltdown.

Did they really expect you to come home on time, finish all your homework, AND wipe your feet?

The Paws Parade kicked off at 11 am, marching from Madison Square Park down Broadway to Union Square where the festivities were set up. An estimated 100 dogs walked in the parade, accompanied by some very fine humans of course.

Acclaimed actress and co-founder of Broadway Barks‘ Bernadette Peters was the Grand Marshal of the parade, while Pip the rescue dog with an incredible story was named the four-legged Grand Marshal. The parade was led by NYPD-mounted and canine units, and of course what animal-inspired event would be complete without being joined by some FDNY fire dogs as well? There were even local veterinarians that marched in the parade.

Rock & Rawhide was collecting donations of toys, blankets, and other “goodies” for shelter pups in addition to trying to get their own rescues adopted. Kylie Edmond, co-founder of Rock & Rawhide, told BarkPost:

Goodies are anything that can be placed in kennels and cages of animal shelters to help reduce stress, noise, and increase the cutie pie’s chance of adoption.

She said that their favorite donation of the day was from a little girl named Susan who took all of her birthday money and bought toys for shelter dogs and cats. AWWWWWW!

Kylie Edmond also went on to say that it was a wonderful turnout despite the chilly weather, and there were over 300 adoptions (an amazing 62 of which came from NYC Animal Care Center) in addition to “loads of silly fun.” One of those adopters was Joe Gatto from TruTv’s “Impractical Jokers,” who is a big time supporter of Rock & Rawhide and shelter pets.

Of course, there were some other celebrities mixed in the crowd, including award-winning actress Edie Falco. She told Susan Richard of CBS NY’s 1010 WINS news radio that she always had dogs growing up so she is continuing that tradition in her kids’ lives, and that “rescuing dogs makes the most sense.” The full interview for Richard’s show All For Animals, including Bernadette Peters, Matt Bershadker (President and CEO of the ASPCA), and Jane Hoffman (President of the Mayor’s Alliance for NYC’s Animals), can be seen below.

Perhaps one of the most generous acts of Adoptapalooza was performed by Animal Planet, who covered all of the adoption fees. People clamored to put in applications and rescue a furry friend of their own – something we would love to see more of on a regular basis!

NYCACC volunteer Tamar getting love from Oak the Pittie (left), and event-goer Christine giving some love to Rescue Dogs Rock NYC’s Stallone (right) who was one of the 4 out of 5 dogs they brought that got adopted

BarkPost had the chance to speak with Steve Gruber, the Director of Communications for the Mayor’s Alliance for NYC’s Animals, to get the full report on just how successful Adoptapalooza was, and the answer was… VERY!

Apart from the adoption drive (which was the focus of the event), those in attendance of Adoptapalooza were treated to a host of other goodies and special offers. These included:

– Microchipping their dogs by Vetco (the first 50 were FREE!)
– Purchasing a license (required by NY state law) from the NYC Department of Health
– Learning how to prepare themselves and their pets for emergencies by representatives from New York City Emergency Management/Ready New York
– Taking home free pet ID tags, courtesy of the Mayor’s Alliance for NYC’s Animals
– Enjoying the Kids Korner, which included face painting by The Cheeky Chipmunk, caricature portraits of people and their pets by Lorelai Arts, and glitter tattos by Rock & Rawhide
– Bringing their dog to the Blue Buffalo dog training field for a free training session with a Petco certified trainer
– Having free photos taken of them and their pets at the photo booth, provided by the Mayor’s Alliance for NYC’s Animals
– Picking up free food samples, other products, and information from pet–related vendors such as Blue Buffalo, Freshpet, HEARTGARD, Merrick, Nature’s Variety, and NexGard
– Meeting wildlife rehabilitators Urban Utopia Wildlife Rehabilitation and the Wild Bird Fund to learn more about the wild animals who share our home
– Learning how Pets For Vets is providing second chances for shelter pets by rescuing, training them, and pairing them with military vets who can benefit from a companion animal

(Clockwise from top left): Marnie the Dog, Mervin the Chihuahua, Chloe Kardoggian, and Ella Bean the Dog

If you missed out on all the fun this time (and it was a LOT of fun), Adoptapalooza will be back later this year for the second of its’ biannual events. Be sure to follow the Mayor’s Alliance for NYC’s Animals on their Facebook page and check their website as well to keep up to date and learn more about how you can get involved.